It was a delighted Dovizioso who joined this edition of the Japanese Grand Prix in second position. Fast since the start of the Motegi meeting, he had however warned that the podium would be complicated to reach. The facts proved him right, but the facts of the race offered him on a platter the place of runner-up to an ecstatic Marquez who collected his fifth world title at the same time as his fifth victory of the season.
On his race, the Ducati official comments: “ I started very well, but with Valentino we found ourselves on the same line for a moment, which forced me to cut the gas. I lost places. I then decided to calm down and not give everything 100% because it was a bit crazy at first. I saw that Rossi was faster than me, so I took care of Aleix Espargaró ».
« After Valentino's fall, I went after Lorenzo. I saw that he was not flying normally. Maybe he was embarrassed and tired after his fall yesterday. He wasn't 100%, but he was still fast. I wanted to catch up with him, but without taking excessive risks because we saw that it was easy to fall on this track. So I nibbled tenth by tenth from the portions that were favorable to me ».
« With five laps to go, I told myself I was going to pass him in the next two laps. But he made his mistake before that. He hit the white stripe with his front tire. It didn't become easy though because my dashboard alerted me to the ascent from Viñales. This was concerning because he normally doesn't finish his races this strong. But I was able to keep my advantage ". With this performance, Dovi now has 124 points, synonymous with sixth place in the championship.
